Don't wake the dragon
by ImprisonedByTechnology
Summary: Their classmates may gossip about their strange relationship all they want, but they better be left alone.


_They say she slept with Charlie Weasley._

She hears the whispers being said when she arrives to the Hufflepuff table for breakfast. She knows they won't ask her anything about it; the badgers prefer to wait for the guilty party to confess their sins first. Only there is no guilt. Tonks is innocent.

Her eyes travel to Winny Randall, the little muggleborn who has hated her since first year when Hugo Smith preferred to sit with her and not with Winny. And there it is. Tonks can spot the pride in Winny's eyes every time the phrase "slept with Charlie" is heard. So it was her who started the rumor.

Tonks doesn't let the stares bother her and instead focuses on her breakfast (a very healthy bowl of fruit with some honey, and a very unhealthy plate of scrambled eggs with bacon). Soon, she sees Charlie enter the Hall and winks at him.

The redhead boy winks back at her, and the gossip starts around her again. Tonks doesn't care about it, after all she didn't sleep with him. That night, they did everything but sleep.

* * *

_Virginia told me she cursed Heather for looking at Charlie_

Barely a week passes before she encounters with more rumors about her. Now, even Professor Sprout gets involved and Tonks get questioned about poor Heather Whitby, who had been found the previous night with multiple cuts in her body.

Of course, she denies being the responsible for that.

"May I go, professor?" she asks with innocent eyes.

Maybe Hufflepuffs are too trusting, but Professor Sprout lets her go without a warning. Or maybe she really convinced the professor of her innocence.

She goes to her room and stands in front of the mirror. Meera Stark approaches her and sits on her bed, her green eyes fixated on her. Tonks ignore her as she changes from one hair color to another. She has to practice if she wants to fully control her gift.

"So" says Meera. "Did you do it? Did you cut Heather because she looked at Charlie during Charms?"

Tonks can see the girl really expects her to say she didn't. She turns her hair black and shortens it, before shrugging and changing its color once more. Charlie had told her he would like to see her with pink hair.

"Of course not, Meera" she tells the girl. "I cut her because she tried to seduce him after Potions"

* * *

_I heard she and Charlie had a fight. Can you see the bruises on her cheek?_

The rumors again! Do this people never get tired of gossip? They don't even bother to whisper anymore. Tonks looks at Professor Snape and smiles when he gives a detention to the gossipy witches and even to a pair of wizards. Good. They deserve it.

She continues with her work without caring about them.

"Hello, Miss Tonks" Charlie tells her while setting his cauldron right besides her.

"Charlie" she says as a greeting, but she focus instead in the beetle eyes she's powdering.

The boy smirks and touches her bruised face. "I heard we had a fight"

This time Tonks can't ignore him and faces him, a smirk in her own lips. They both can notice the stares of their classmates.

"We didn't" she says and Charlie snorts.

"Well, you are pretty bruised up, my lady" whispers the boy. "Are you sure I didn't hurt you? They are not sure. Look at them! They worry about you"

Tonks laughs at his sarcastic words and the people staring at them continue with their work, as if they hadn't been watching them. "Let them be, Charlie" she tells him. "I'm sure they've never had it rough"

* * *

_You know what happened? Yes, in the Gryffindor Common Room. Yeah, Charlie almost killed a guy. __For her_

Tonks frowns as she goes looking for Charlie. According to Meera, he should be at the hospital wing. A shiver runs through Tonks spine. She hopes Madam Pomfrey doesn't catch her sneaking into her domains.

A muttered spell prevents the big, old door from creaking when she opens it. A simple glance into the room and she already located Charlie's blood red hair.

"About time you came to see me" he says merrily, but quietly. She walks hurriedly to Charlie and kisses him.

"What did you do to the guy?"

He moves a little to the side and lets Tonks get into the bet with him. She promptly takes off her shoes and climbs in, tucking her feet under the sheets and rubbing them against Charlie's calves.

"Your feet are cold, woman!" he tells her with mock annoyance.

"Shut up, Weasley. Just tell me what you did to him"

He sighs and she worries. She can get away with almost everything she does, but there goes Charlie and lands himself in the hospital at the first try.

"They guy said you're a slut"

Tonks looks at him with a surprised expression. Charlie looks back at her. "What?" he asks her, but his only answer is laughter.

"Bloody hell, Nymphadora!" he exclaims, annoyed by her laughter.

"Hey! Don't call me that, dragon boy" she says, still laughing at him.

He rolls his eyes and waits until her laughter ends. She looks at him, a strange emotion in her grey eyes.

"You almost kill a guy because he called me a slut?" she asks him with a low voice.

He pulls her even closer to his body and Tonks doesn't complain.

"What can I say? That's what he gets for waking the dragon" he tells her while running his hands through her pink, waist-long hair "He has been talking about fucking you for a while. He said if you were blowing me you wouldn't matter to do him, too. I don't want you with anyone else and that's it"

"And now you're going to be expelled because of a dumb boy who couldn't keep his mouth shut"

Now it's Charlie the one who laughs. "Actually, my only punishment is for _duelling outside of class _and I only get a week of detention with Filch. The guy didn't want to tell McGonagall why I attacked him, so I did and she was proud of how I defended your honor"

Tonks giggled. "Really?"

"Of course, Dora" he says "McGonagall even told the other prefects they should be more like me and said how I embodied the qualities of a true Gryffindor"

"If only she knew what that Gryffindor has been doing over her desk" she says between laughs. "But thank you, Charlie. For being a great friend"

Charlie shifts on the bed so he can face her. "About that," he starts "I don't think this works for me anymore, Tonks"

She sits straighter. "What do you mean?"

"I want to be more than your friend, Nymphadora" he tells her. "So what do you say? Will you be my girlfriend?"

"I don't know" she says playfully. "That kind of takes the charm out of it"

"Oh, yeah?" he asks before kissing her. "You really think that?"

"Well" says Tonks between kisses "maybe I can reconsider your generous offer"

* * *

Written for the:  
If you Dare Challenge, using prompt 136: gossip  
Connect the characters challenge


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